Bright Lights, Big City

Jay McInerney
1984
Rating: 8

Had not ever read this novel, and The Odeon is one of my favorite restaurants in New York, so I felt that it was time to give it a go. I went into it with somewhat low expectations, but it’s a very good book. At a number of points I came across passages where I felt the caliber of the writing was beyond what I’m capable of, which is simultaneously exhilerating and depressing. What comes through again and again is McInerney’s plain, raw talent as a writer, the bastard.

The plot moved along quickly, it was a breezy read, and it was full of funny and keen observations about life in the city, and about the people around him, and about the magazine he worked at as a fact checker.

I had only two criticisms, and they were pretty minor. The first is that it felt like the story would have benefited from being a bit longer; a couple of the relationships in the book felt like they needed or could have benefited from having more meat on the bone.

I also found the writing about his relationship slash former relationship with his ex-wife to have been merely acceptable rather than great.

As usual I went into the novel cold, I prefer to read them that way, because that’s the way they are meant to be read. I read after the fact that the 3 major plot points were all taken from his life. It is a very autobiographical book, but that doesn’t detract from it in any way.

I could see myself re-reading it at some point in the future and would definitely recommend it.